The Columbia Exposition is set to open in Chicago. The Winchester House is rising in San Jose. H. H Holmes is building his Murder house across from the 1893 Chicago World's fair, as the Spitalfields Urchins return to America. Michael, Toby, and Joey have returned to America, as promised. They and their friends, Robert, Larry, Oliver, Ned, and Trudy are here for the fair, but a sadistic predator draws them into a murder case. Clarence King, a subcontractor to the fair and grandson of The King of the Eire Canal, Claudius King, a self-made man and ex slave, has been turning the third floor of a block-long building into a hotel for one H. H. Holmes, a handsome and charming Chicago entrepreneur, and America's very own Jack the Ripper.Oliver is not a good traveler, but he brings along enough opium to keep him unconscious until they reach New York Harbor. Robert is stranded and alone in his cabin with his seasickness. Trudy and Ned stroll the decks, having the time of their lives, as Michael, Toby, Joey, and Larry reunite with their friends Garry Waithe and Captain Manning On the ship from Liverpool to New York Harbor. Their friends, Corkey and Ben are happy to greet them, having turned the upstairs of the Whaler's inn into a hotel along the lines of the Mews Cafe, thanks to Toby's letters. But there are other changes as well. Teague has found someone to make a life with, and his choice is a welcomed surprise to them all. By canal boat, by special commuter train, and by luxury Pullman, they descend on their friends, Flora and Ames, who have invited them to stay at their new club in Chicago.Jackson Park, a ragged, ugly piece of Chicago's public property is transformed by Frederick Law Olmsted, into a lush, green wonderland of thick green plantings with dashes of colorful flower accents. A consortium of Chicago and New York Architects design and develop a magical kingdom that is the forerunner of all great amusement parks to come. Even a modern-day cartoonist is inspired by the 1893 Chicago fair and will go on to build Disneyland one day. Put it is Sol Bloom who makes the Fair financially solvent with his first ever midway, full of exotic amusements, food, and the first ever Ferris Wheel, designed by George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. to rival the Eiffel Tower which four years before had set the standard for all world fairs tom come. The Ferris Wheel had 36 cars, each fitted with 40 revolving chairs and able to accommodate up to 60 people, giving a total capacity of 2,160.[10] When the fair opened, it carried some 38,000 passengers daily, taking 20 minutes to complete two revolutions, the first involving six stops to allow passengers to exit and enter and the second a nine-minute non-stop rotation, for which the ticket holder paid 50 cents. It carried 2.5 million passengers before it was finally demolished in 1906.The Buildings in the main portion of the fair were huge, all spray-painted a dazzling white. The Chicago Fair soon became known as the White City.Across from the Fair, H. H. Holmes's Hotel became known as The Castle, and later, The Murder Castle. Meanwhile, in San Jose California, the widow of William Wirt Winchester, of Winchester Arms Company, is building what will one day be known as The Winchester Mystery House. Since its construction in 1884, the property and mansion were claimed by many to be haunted by the ghosts of those killed with Winchester rifles. Under Winchester's day-to-day guidance, its "from-the-ground-up" construction proceeded around the clock, by some accounts, without interruption, until her death on September 5, 1922, at which time work immediately ceased. Sarah Winchester's biographer says that Winchester "routinely dismissed workers for months at a time 'to take such rest as I might'" and notes that "this flies in the face of claims by today's Mystery House proprietors that work at the ranch was ceaseless for thirty-eight years.
